In order to work at ISB, teachers have studied year after year, developing their skills and building their reputation. All teachers in ISB, in their own way, are masters at their craft. Most of these teachers focus on their school career, giving world-class education to privileged students who pay over one million Baht annually to attend the school. Mr. Phillip Bowman, a learning support teacher, has extended his teaching career to teachers across the world with his MARIO Framework courses and software.
The MARIO Framework is an Ed-tech company, which provides “both professional learning and software solutions for schools”. Both professional courses and highly developed softwares are provided on their website, with the goal of improving students’ academic progress, as well as their social/emotional wellbeing. The services MARIO Framework provides are also dedicated to make teachers’ lives easier, as data is sorted to require less paperwork done by teachers, as well as allowing them to collect and interpret data more effectively and efficiently. The MARIO framework also contains research information from many top colleges, practitioners from 25 schools and education providers globally, and advisors with expert knowledge worldwide. In both the courses and software offered, the MARIO Approach is embedded. The MARIO Approach is a protocol which is implemented into one-on-one conversations with students that comes in 4 steps: Connecting, Identifying, Activating and Empowering. “We connect with students and make sure there’s a strong understanding on where they are at that moment, identifying what the primary issue we are going to address in that session is, activate learning through our eleven high-impact learning strategies, and empower the student with reflecting on the session and discussing what they can do differently in the future.”
Mr. Bowman has added a lot to his life from being a high school teacher. He originally started the MARIO framework due to being frustrated that the efforts he put into his students did not achieve results he thought possible, as well as feeling that his teaching did not always provide success post high school. Mr. Bowman then spent a whole summer studying research, working 12-15 hours a day. He found out that “change is most profound when it comes from within”. This realization made him turn to a more self-directed approach to teaching. After creating the MARIO Framework, the measured success he experienced using it in his classes kept him going, and inspired him to further expand his business. In a research study, Mr Bowman discovered that in six years with the intervention in place, it measured in the top 5% of all interventions researched. Using the Ohio State efficacy scale, teachers come into the course with an average of 6.6, and come out at a score of 7.6.
Mr. Mick Stevenson, another learning support teacher, is a regular user of the MARIO Framework. Mr. Stevenson was introduced to the MARIO Framework in its early days, with excitement and passion from Mr. Bowman on its potential to improve student achievement. When asked how his experience has been with the MARIO Framework, Mr. Stevenson said: “The Mario software has really helped my students improve. It is quick and easy to work with and gives me a great picture of where they are. It helps me identify the areas we need to focus on, guides my sessions, and makes the notetaking and progress tracking part of my job easier.” An instance where the MARIO Framework improved student performance is when through one on one conversations, poor sleep habits were identified as an issue for optimal learning as often students would stay up late studying at night . To tackle that, they created a modified work schedule, where they did more homework on the weekend. This greatly improved their sleep patterns, and improvement in school performance and focus were identified.
However, Mr. Bowman’s path to success was not easy, as he had to divide his efforts into his business, as well as his teaching job at ISB. Mr. Bowman’s three pillars of balancing his attention are “boundaries, scheduling, and getting an amazing team around him”. Mr. Bowman has a team of 40 members who work with him, and has chosen to work part-time at ISB, only working at school on odd days. He also pushes himself to be intentional with his time. He measures his time precisely, and is upfront with his people on how much time he has free. But after all of that, he still admits that his work-life balance is not healthy, as it has been challenging for him to manage both areas of work at once. He has to work hard to ensure he also has time devoted just to his wife.
Going forward, Mr. Bowman is most excited about the scaling of his business. His recent success with the Beta of the MARIO for Me program was quantified, as the 17 international schools who tested them got an average score of 9.7 out of 10.This year, the MARIO Framework has 50 different schools with their software lined up, with many of them signed up to multi-year licenses. Mr. Bowman’s goal is to close out 50 schools by 2024, 250 schools in 2025, and 1000 in 2026. He is challenged by the process and logistics of branching out, but such development excites him as well. He is also invested in the software portion of the business, having his software engineers work hard to develop the online product. Along with international schools, Mr. Bowman is interested in expanding his target market to universities in the United States, as his ambitions continue to grow.
Mr. Bowman and the MARIO Framework have been a massive success, and managing to develop and flourish an entire business when working hard in a prestigious international school is no small feat. With the increasing pressure on making money, many people are inspired to start side hustles, while working another job or going to school. Mr. Bowman believes that finding your true passion, working hard on your respective field of work, and giving yourself opportunities to fail, as failures create lessons, which creates success. Another essential tip to succeed in entrepreneurship is to find a mentor, someone who is experienced in the business world, and work with them.
The most important lesson Mr. Bowman can give to aspiring entrepreneurs in university is to “Figure out what priorities you have during your time in university. I believe that fun should be one of those priorities, but networking, exploration and experimentation should also be some of those priorities. Those are key ingredients to finding long-term success in the business world.”